UPDATE 1-Colombia delays privatization of power utility Isagen

BOGOTA Aug 12 (Reuters) - Colombia has postponed the sale
of its majority stake in power generation utility Isagen
for as long as a year, Finance Minister Mauricio
Cardenas said on Tuesday.

The government hopes to raise about $3 billion from the sale
of the company, which is Colombia's third-largest energy
generator and operates six electricity generators, to spend on
badly-needed infrastructure improvements across the nation.

Isagen had been scheduled for auction on Aug. 22.

Cardenas said the government has been in constant
communication with interested companies from the United States,
France, China and Spain. He added that several of them had asked
for a delay in the deadline.

"For the nation, it's desirable to have various interested
parties that will compete (in the auction), and we will be able
to sell at the best value possible. For that reason we won't
rush. What we need is competition so we won't do this under
pressure," Cardenas told reporters in Bogota.

Colombia's government will set a new deadline at a later
date, Cardenas said, adding that the sale will occur within the
next year. The government said it hopes to attract more
interested companies to the auction.

The government has received interest in Isagen from
U.S.-based Duke Energy, China Haudian Corporation,
Generco and Spain's Gas Natural.

The sale process has dragged through several governments and
was halted for two months until May for a review by a judicial
authority after a pressure group tried to stop the
privatization.

Isagen had 2,212 megawatts of mostly-hydroelectric installed
capacity, or about 15 percent of national installed generation
capacity, as of 2012, according to Colombia's Mines and Energy
Ministry.
(Reporting by Carlos Vargas; Writing by Peter Murphy; Editing
by Helen Murphy and Paul Simao)